Mayor says Iraq war is about supporting troops, not politics (Bloomberg)

[sabra]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--mayor-iraqwar0829aug29,0,1143036.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Mayor says Iraq war is about supporting troops, not politics

NEW YORK -- Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg was pressed on Monday to clarify his position on the Iraq war, but he stepped gingerly around the debate by insisting the issue is about the troops and not politics.

His comments came a day after he was asked about grieving mother Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest outside the president's Texas ranch, and dismissed it as "not a local issue."

But the larger topic of the war, he said, is very much a local matter because New York soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and the campaign against terrorism began at home on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's not a question of supporting the president, it is supporting our troops," he said. "They are there and our national leaders have to find a way _ and hopefully they are working as hard as they can _ to bring our troops home."

[sniffa]

1. oh, the iraq war began on 9/11/01

with aLL the pLane attacks, and towers faLLing, most peopLe missed other news happenings that day.

[wtbymark]

2. sounds like he's against it but can't admit it (nt)

[sabra]

4. indeed. he gave a very "political" answer...

[jrthin]

3. God, how I hate our mayor.

Too effing bad we don't have a viable dem mayoral candidate. :banghead:

[soleft]

I'm starting to like Weiner, I just wish he WAS viable

[PurityOfEssence]

6. It's sort of like having your very own mini-Berlusconi, isn't it?

Money, media power and all sorts of corporate oomph go a long way...

[jrthin]

18. Yep. nt

[upoceg]

19. miller's the most viable of the bunch, IMO

unless suddenly everyone decided that they can get past chris brodeur's rhetoric and see that his "crazy" plans could actually change the landscape of the city for the better.

[PurityOfEssence]

5. Stomping Hussein doesn't have anything to do with Israel, does it?

Continuing to dictate policy to the rest of the world down a gun barrel over the piles of their dead children isn't the least bit political either, now is it?

We must stand with our Fearless Leader and bark at his every command, and anything less than goose-stepping along with him is treason and the craven betrayal of our innocent young combat assault troops.

[Norquist Nemesis]

7. Guess what Mayor Bloomberg

I'd say it's a safe bet that Cindy Sheehan supports the troops, too.

Just because the anti-Cindy and anti-"anti-war" operatives are proclaiming they alone support the troops does not make it fact.

[shantipriya]

8. Bloomberg

Politicians in this country are so partisan that they will never take a principled stand on anything .What a moron!

[meganmonkey]

9. Oh good lord - it is BS spew like this that made me get new bumper

stickers.

I am SO SICK of the implication that anti-war = anti-troop.

More and more troops are coming home and speaking out about this war. We need to encourage and support them, they may be our only hope of convincing people.

So we support the troops by supporting the leaders who put them in a horrible situation that is only getting worse, so more of them will be killed/harmed/emotionally ruined?

That makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Come on Bloomberg, you can do better than this!

[Massachusetts]

10. Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg was pressed

Go figure. New Yorkers (Blue) vote in Michael and Massachusetts (Blue) votes in Mitt, both Repugs and both essentially lame ducks, what gives?? Are we living in the Looking Glass????

[americanstranger]

22. Bloomberg was a Democrat until he ran for mayor.

A conservative Dem, but a Dem nonetheless.

Ther were so many Dems in the race when he decided to run, he simply registered to run as a Republican. Then he proceeded to spend nearly $1000 of his own money pre NYC voter, and won as a Repub.

At any rate, he's still an asshole.

-as

[despairing optimist]

11. Cindy "not a local issue." I hear Ed Koch laughing behind Bloomberg

Since when did an issue's locality ever stop Koch or Rudy from making as much political hay out of it as possible? Bloomberg is NY's stealth mayor. I bet he coaches John Roberts on the side, when he's not dodging fastballs from the press.

[Javaman]

12. mr bloomburg the man with no spine...

"well, you see, we must support the troops, but you know this is a complex issues, but the war is not about politics, the politics are about politics and the troops are about troops, and the faster we do something somewhere over there, not meaning here, the better something is to take place when it's not here but over there, regarding the troops and the politics that are local to the president, are we clear on that?"

[Karenina]

13. At this point I'm posting

having read NOTHING but the headline, something I rarely do. Trotzdem muss ich sofort schreien

THE IDIOCY IN THAT STATEMENT IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!! :crazy::freak::crazy:

Meine ficken Fresse. :freak:

[tsuki]

14. pa-tonga, pa-tonga, pa-tonga. Handled that ably, he did. Sounds

like a politician.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Michael Bloomberg knows better. Lip service. nt

[Dover]

16. The Iraq war is about oil and the PETRODOLLAR's decline....n/t

[otohara]

17. Excusse Me Mr. Mayor - It Most Certainly Is

Mr. Bush made sure of that after 9/11. What a dumbass, no wonder he's a repubican now!

[bribri16]

20. But the troops are about "politics." That's how the Rethugs use them.

for strictly political reasons. They don't give a damn about them or they wouldn't be sacrificing them for a political agenda that does not benefit this nation in the long run.

[leesa]

21. It's about ethics and the law...both of which have been violated by BushCo

and his Republican thugs.

[daleo]

23. War is political by its very nature

There is no subject more political than war. It is the mother of all miseries, and the misery of all mothers. To hide behind the phrase "support the troops" shows no moral courage.